Reverend Ref +

I'M GOING TO MISS THAT GIRL

We took off for a little mini-vacation before our really big vacation in a couple of weeks. Mrs. Ref wanted to make sure that she saw her grandparents. I don't want to say, "One last time," because both of them are in ... okay ... health. They still live in their own home, but it's obvious that they are slowing down and life is beginning to take its toll. So Mrs. Ref wanted to make this trip, "Just in case."

After a stop in Butte for breakfast and Spokane for lunch and dinner, we finally pulled up to their house about 11:30 local time. Ish -- that's a long day in the car, trying to remember that the yellow line goes on the left and the white line stays on the right (and other rules of the road that are probably important to a sleepy driver).

It was supposed to be nice this weekend, according to one weather site I visted before we left. It's raining. I'm wondering if it's because I washed my car ... hmmm.

Mrs. Ref drove the first part of the trip to Butte. I wanted to leave the house at 7 a.m. For those who know me, 7 a.m. means 7 a.m. Um, yeah, I'm still working on that concept with the women. But we did get out by 7:15, so I'm making progress.

On the way out of town, Mrs. Ref is doing ... substantially more than the posted speed limit in town. I mentioned this.

She said, "Oh, give me a break. It's early and there aren't any other cars on the road."

Just then our foreign exchange student pipes up, "Oh? What about those three cars right there??"

Mrs. Ref: "I didn't ask your opinion."

Juli: "You don't have to ask . . . it's free."

Yeah .... I'm going to miss that girl when she goes home.